← Nouns Cooking · Thai

Ingredients

• 800 ml full-fat coconut milk (2 tins)
• 400 ml chicken stock
• 2 lemongrass stalks, cut into 4 cm pieces and bruised
• 5 cm piece Galangal, thinly sliced
• 6 Makrut (kaffir) lime leaves, torn, stems removed
• 3 Bird's eye chilli, lightly bruised
• 500 g boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
• 200 g oyster or straw mushrooms, torn into pieces
• 3 tbsp Fish sauce
• 2 tsp Sugar
• 4 tbsp lime juice
• 1 handful Coriander (cilantro), leaves and stems chopped

Method

1. Pour the coconut milk and stock into a saucepan, add the lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves and chillies and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Let it infuse for 5 min; don’t let it boil hard or the coconut milk can split.
2. Add the chicken and simmer gently for 6–8 min, stirring now and then, until it is cooked through (75°C / 165°F).
3. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2–3 minutes more, until just tender.
4. Turn off the heat and stir in the fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Taste and balance: it should be pleasantly sour and salty, rounded by the coconut.
5. Ladle into bowls and scatter with coriander. Serve with jasmine rice; the lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves are for flavour, not for eating.

Tips

• Galangal is the star here (tom kha means "galangal soup"); ginger tastes quite different, so use frozen or jarred galangal if fresh is hard to find.
• For a vegan version use vegetable stock, tofu, more mushrooms and soy sauce or salt instead of fish sauce.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Marion's Kitchen BBC Good Food